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What glitches have been noticed

Miniature model with stereo speakers and reversible interface

The Chinese company TCL, which, as you know, now owns the brand of smartphones Alcatel One Touch, in the third generation of its flagship devices Idol presented two models from the new Idol 3 series at once. with different display sizes and, accordingly, with different sizes of the devices themselves. Besides this, there are, of course, other differences. For some reason, manufacturers of devices running Android OS stubbornly equip smaller models with low-power hardware stuffing, as if the size of the screen diagonal is directly related to the user's desire to have or not have a truly productive device at their disposal.

Like the iPhone 6, in the new line of Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 two modifications with the same name coexist, differing only in the size of the screen diagonal (5.5 or 4.7 inches). However, Apple's smaller smartphone is equipped with the same powerful hardware as the larger model, while the Alcatel One Touch does not. The miniature model with a 4.7-inch display received a much weaker hardware platform, and less memory, both operational and permanent, as well as a lower-quality front camera, a stripped-down Wi-Fi module and some other limitations.

Main characteristics of Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 (4.7) (model 6039K)

	Alcatel OT Idol 3 (4.7)	Lg magna	Sony Xperia E4	Lenovo S90	Samsung Galaxy A5
Screen	4.7 ″, IPS	5 ″, IPS	5 ″, IPS	5 ″, Super AMOLED	5 ″, Super AMOLED
Resolution	1280 × 720, 312 ppi	1280 × 720, 294 ppi	960 × 540, 220 ppi	1280 × 720, 294 ppi	1280 × 720, 294 ppi
SoC			MediaTek MT6582 (4x ARM Cortex-A7 @ 1.3GHz)	Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 (4x ARM Cortex-A53) @ 1.2GHz	Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 (4 Cortex-A53 cores) @ 1.2 GHz
GPU	Adreno 306	Mali 400MP	Mali-400MP	Adreno 306	Adreno 306
RAM	1.5 GB	1 GB	1 GB	2 GB	2 GB
Flash memory	8/16 GB	8 GB	8 GB	32 GB	16 GB
Memory card support	microSD	microSD	microSD	—	microSD
operating system	Google Android 5.0	Google Android 5.0	Google Android 4.4	Google Android 4.4	Google Android 4.4
Battery	non-removable, 2000 mAh	removable, 2540 mAh	non-removable, 2300 mAh	non-removable, 2300 mAh	non-removable, 2300 mAh
Cameras		rear (8MP; 1080p video), front (5MP)	rear (5 MP; 1080p video), front (2 MP)	rear (13 MP; 1080p video), front (8 MP)	rear (13 MP; 1080p video), front (5 MP)
Dimensions and weight	135 x 66 x 7.5mm, 110g	140 x 70 x 10.1 mm, 136 g	137 x 75 x 10.5 mm, 146 g	146 x 72 x 6.9 mm, 129 g	139 x 70 x 6.7 mm, 123 g
average price	T-12645041	T-12413672	T-12117545	T-11964162	T-12323116
Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 (4.7) Deals	L-12645041-10

SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 410, 1.2 GHz, 4 cores ARM Cortex-A53
GPU Adreno 306 @ 400 MHz
Operating system Android 5.0.2
Touch display IPS, 4.7 ″, 1280 × 720, 312 ppi
Random access memory (RAM) 1.5 GB, internal memory 8/16 GB
MicroSD support up to 64GB
Micro-SIM support (1 or 2 pcs.)
2G communication: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
3G connection: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100 MHz
Data transmission LTE FDD 800/900/1800/2100/2600 MHz
Wi-Fi 802.11b / g / n (2.4 GHz), Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth 4.0, NFC
USB 2.0, OTG
GPS (A-GPS), Glonass, Beidou
13 MP camera, autofocus, LED flash
Camera 5 MP (front), fixed. focus
Proximity sensor, direction, lighting, accelerometer, electronic compass
Non-removable battery 2000 mAh
Dimensions 135 x 66 x 7.5mm
Weight 110 g

Appearance and usability

Now all smartphones entering the market, at least the most prominent of their representatives, are usually compared with the mobile products of the American company Apple. So, smartphones of the Alcatel One Touch Idol series, being quite expressive products in terms of design, certainly cannot be suspected of copying the iPhone. But Idol's pretty fashion models do not lose anything from this, designers and developers from TCL have found their way and continue to develop, adhering to the accepted line. All smartphones in the flagship Idol series, including the new Idol 3 devices, are some of the sleekest mobile devices in their class on the market. This concerns, first of all, such parameters as the thickness of the case, as well as the weight, for which Alcatel smartphones are practically unmatched. This was the case with the release of the first Idol X and Idol X + models, and it is the same now. It's nice to know that TCL designers and developers have found their own path and continue to evolve, adhering to the established line.

The smaller representative of the new pair of smartphones Idol 3 has a 4.7-inch display, a very elegant body shape with a pleasant design, as well as miniature dimensions, due to which it is comfortably held in the hand. Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 (4.7) received similar forms to the previous models of the Idol 2 series, the emphasis here is on design and style. The slim body has significantly rounded corners, the shiny metal side bezel adds complexity and high cost to the appearance. The front glass itself is flat, but it has been lifted off the body so that it appears slightly convex. The side bezel is made not of metal, but of plastic with a spray, but it has a complex, a kind of typesetting structure, where pseudo-chrome stripes are interspersed with matte textured plastic.

The back panel is also made of matte, rough textured plastic. The lid here is non-removable, the body has a non-separable monoblock structure, so the appropriate method of attaching the cards is used. Cards are inserted into the side slot-like slots, as usual driving into them on a metal slide, and removed using a complete key. For both Idol 3 models (5.5 and 4.7 inches), there are modifications both with one SIM card, where the second slot is given for a memory card, and with support for two SIM cards, then the device is already deprived of the ability to use a memory card. Two-SIM versions have twice as much internal memory as their one-SIM counterparts.

The front panel is completely covered with a flat protective glass, but the glass is raised above the body itself by a couple of millimeters, its edges are covered with a plastic rim. In the upper part under the glass, in addition to the front camera and sensors, there is an LED event indicator that shines with a large dot during charging and notifies about incoming messages. There are two loudspeakers hidden behind the grilles, they are brought directly to the body, above and below the glass itself.

The speaker grilles and the entire body have an absolutely symmetrical structure, so it is difficult to immediately pick up a smartphone to determine where is the top and where is the bottom, but this was intended by the developers. The fact is that no matter how you turn the device, it can be used with the same ease, since the system interface can be turned over 180 degrees. This is a curious find by the developers, and considering that the screen can be activated by simply tapping on the glass, without pressing any buttons, such a "trick" may even find a real use.

Accordingly, there are no control buttons in the conventionally lower part under the screen, they are virtual here and turn over together with the entire interface. So, on both upper-lower sides of the device, you can find both the speaker grill and the microphone hole (at the end).

On the back of the body are the eyes of the main camera and a single LED flash. The camera glass is slightly recessed into the body, it is framed by a chrome ring. The flash can play the role of a flashlight using a preinstalled program, you can start the function in the shortcut menu in the notification curtain.

The side mechanical buttons have a metallized coating, the keys protrude beyond the body to a sufficient height, are easy to touch, have a pliable, but elastic move, in general, there are no complaints about the mechanical controls.

The connectors are located in their usual places at the ends of the device: at the top there is a 3.5 mm jack for headphone minijack, and at the bottom there is a universal Micro-USB connector that supports connecting external devices in USB OTG mode. The connectors are not covered with covers, since the body of the smartphone is not protected from water and dust.

The color variety of the Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 modifications is provided by three different color options: black (Dark Gray), gray (Metallic Silver) and golden (Soft Gold).

Screen

The Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 (4.7) smartphone is equipped with an IPS sensor matrix combined with a protective glass using OGS technology (without an air gap). The screen dimensions are 58 × 103 mm, the diagonal is 4.7 inches, the resolution is 1280 × 720 pixels. Accordingly, the pixel density is 312 ppi.

The width of the side frame from the screen to the edge of the body on the sides is about 3 mm. The width of the top and bottom edges is about 16 mm, and this despite the fact that there are quite good stereo speakers above and below the screen. The brightness of the display can be adjusted manually, it is also possible to enable automatic adjustment based on the operation of the light sensor. Multi-touch technology allows you to handle up to 5 simultaneous touches. The smartphone also has a proximity sensor that locks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear. The screen can be activated by double tapping on the glass.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the "Monitors" and "Projectors and TV" sections Alexey Kudryavtsev... Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the test sample.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface, resistant to scratches. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are not worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the turned off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - Alcatel Idol 3, then they can be distinguished by their size):

The screen of the Alcatel Idol 3 is even slightly darker (the brightness in the photos is 127 against 130 for the Nexus 7). There is practically no doubling of reflected objects in the Alcatel Idol 3 screen, this indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen (more specifically, between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix) (OGS type screen - One Glass Solution). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (such as glass-air) with greatly different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of strong ambient light, but their repair in the case of cracked outer glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be changed. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (better than Nexus 7 in terms of efficiency), so fingerprints are much easier to remove, and appear at a slower speed than in the case of ordinary glass.

With manual brightness control and displaying the white field in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 615 cd / m², the minimum - 20 cd / m². The maximum brightness is very high, which means, given the excellent anti-glare properties, readability even on a sunny day outdoors should be at a good level. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable value. In the presence of automatic brightness control by the light sensor (it is located on the front panel above the screen and to the left of the center). In automatic mode, when the ambient light conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. This function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment slider. If it is 100%, then in complete darkness, the automatic brightness adjustment function reduces the brightness to 200 cd / m2 (a lot), in an office illuminated with artificial light (about 400 lux), the brightness rises to 385 cd / m2 (also a lot), in in very bright environments (equivalent to a clear day outdoors, but no direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or slightly more) is set to 615 cd / m² (which is good). The brightness slider is 50% - the values \u200b\u200bare as follows: 20, 140 and 615 cd / m² (ideal combination), at 0% - 20, 20 and 615 cd / m² (the average value is underestimated). It turns out that the automatic brightness control function works adequately, and it is possible to adjust the nature of the brightness change to the user's requirements. At any brightness level, there is practically no backlight modulation, so there is no screen flickering either.

This smartphone uses an IPS-type matrix. The micrographs show the typical IPS sub-pixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of photomicrographs of screens used in mobile technology.

The screen has good viewing angles without a significant color shift even with large gaze deviations from the perpendicular to the screen and without inverting (except for the darkest shades when gaze deviates along one diagonal). For comparison, we present photographs in which the same images are displayed on the screens of Alcatel Idol 3 and Nexus 7, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to about 200 cd / m², and the color balance on the camera was forcibly switched to 6500 K. Perpendicular to the screens is a white field:

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field. And the test picture:

The color rendition is good, the color balance is slightly different (the tested screen is clearly blue), the color saturation is natural. Now at an angle of about 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors did not change much on both screens, but in the Alcatel Idol 3 the contrast decreased to a greater extent due to the strong lightening of black, and signs of inverted dark shades began to appear on it. And the white box:

The brightness at an angle of the screens decreased (at least 5 times, based on the difference in exposure), but the Alcatel Idol 3 screen is slightly darker. The black field, when deviated along the diagonal, is lightened strongly and acquires a violet or red-violet tint. The photos below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same!):

And from a different angle:

When viewed from a perpendicular view, the black field uniformity is good, although not ideal:

Contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is normal - about 760: 1. The response time for the transition black-white-black is 21 ms (9 ms on + 12 ms off). The transition between gray tones of 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes 38 ms in total. The gamma curve, plotted using 32 points with equal intervals in terms of the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal any blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.34, which is higher than the standard value of 2.2, however, this does not matter, since the real gamma curve significantly deviates from the power dependence:

This is due to the presence of a dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness in accordance with the nature of the displayed image (the brightness decreases on dark). As a result, the obtained dependence of brightness on the hue (gamma curve) does not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential display of shades of gray on almost the entire screen. For this reason, we carried out a number of tests - determining the contrast and response time, comparing black illumination at angles - when displaying special templates with a constant average brightness, and not single-color fields in full screen. Let us give the dependence of brightness (vertical axis) on time when switching from black to white in the halves of the screen alternately, while the average brightness does not change and dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness does not work (graph 50%/50% ). And the same dependence, but with alternating display of fields in full screen (graph 100% ), while the average brightness is already changing and the dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness works in full:

In general, such and not switched off brightness correction does nothing but harm, since it reduces the visibility of gradations in the shadows in the case of dark images. In addition, this dynamic adjustment, when displaying any image other than the white field in full screen, significantly underestimates the brightness, which impairs readability in bright light. Note that the adjustment is slow, so at least there are no annoying jumps in the backlight brightness.

The color gamut is close to sRGB:

The spectra show that the matrix filters moderately mix the components together:

As a result, colors have natural saturation. The balance of shades on the gray scale is a bit of a compromise, since the color temperature is noticeably higher than the standard 6500 K, but the deviation from the spectrum of the absolute black body (ΔE) is less than 10, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, the color temperature and ΔE vary little from shade to shade - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of the color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since the color balance there does not really matter, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

To summarize: the screen has a very high maximum brightness and excellent anti-reflective properties, so the device can be used outdoors without any problems even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable level. The automatic brightness control mode works well. The advantages of the screen include an effective oleophobic coating, no air gap in the layers of the screen and no flicker, an acceptable color balance, a color gamut close to sRGB. To significant disadvantages, we attribute low black stability to gaze deviation from the perpendicular to the screen plane, as well as dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness. Nevertheless, given the importance of characteristics for this particular class of devices, the screen quality can be considered very high.

Sound

In terms of sound, the new Idol 3 smartphones have everything at a high level. Two powerful 1.2W front speakers create a surround sound experience with built-in JBL Clari-Fi technology. This technology is also designed to restore the original sound quality from compressed music files, such as MP3, Internet radio or streaming audio (we have heard enough about these magical technologies when applied to computer sound cards, but now it's time for mobile devices). The smartphone sounds really decent, thick, bright and saturated with all frequencies, the sound can be obtained both from the stereo speakers on the case and through the headphones. The maximum volume level is high, no distortions and wheezing were noticed. In conversational dynamics, the voice of a familiar interlocutor remains distinguishable, timbre and intonation are recognizable.

To play music, there is a proprietary player called Mix with the functionality of a music center and even with the ability to combine music tracks in DJ-mode. You can sync tracks, make smooth mixing, add audio effects, delete and re-record your compositions. To work in this "manual" mode, the horizontal position of the smartphone is used.

FM-radio is present in the smartphone's configuration, it cannot record programs from the air. The ability to record telephone conversations using standard means is also not provided here.

Camera

Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 (4.7) is equipped with two digital camera modules with a resolution of 13 and 5 megapixels. The front module has a sensor with a resolution of 5 megapixels, optics with an f / 2.5 aperture and a relatively wide viewing angle, has a fixed focus, but does not have its own flash. The quality of shooting for selfies is quite satisfactory. In the settings there is the possibility of manual retouching of the resulting image with the ability to change the tone and texture of the skin in the picture.

The main camera is equipped with a 13-megapixel Sony module with an f / 2.0 aperture lens, single LED flash and fast autofocus (technology from FotoNation allows the camera to recognize faces and focus in just 0.26 seconds). There is no optical stabilization here, only electronic.

The interface for controlling the camera is convenient and intuitive: all the current settings are combined into one scrolling scroll, the selection of additional modes is carried out by calling the context menu on the right. In addition to the automatic shooting mode, there are several additional ones, including a manual mode in which all settings can be adjusted manually, as well as HDR mode, panoramic, single-frame and retouching modes, and even a QR code scanner.

The camera can shoot video in maximum Full HD resolution (1920 × 1080, 30 fps), an example of a test video is presented below.

Movie # 1 (31 MB, 1920 × 1080, 30 fps)

	The text has been worked out well. Sharpness drops slightly towards the corners of the frame.
	The camera copes well with macro photography.
	There are noticeable areas of blur at the edges of the frame.
	In the distant shots, the sharpness is not bad, however, some soapiness is noticeable.
	The camera does a good job indoors.
	Even at high values \u200b\u200bof light sensitivity, noise reduction copes.
	The camera is relatively good at macro photography in room lighting.
	The shadows are well done.
	When the plan is removed, the detail does not drop very quickly.
	Not bad sharpness according to plans.

The camera of the small model did not surprise us with anything new, and the main shortcomings remained the same, although they are expressed in places more weakly: areas of blur at the edges and especially corners of the frame, effective, but sometimes too hard work of noise reduction. But the camera still performs well, and even handles the lack of lighting relatively well. Perhaps, we can say that in some moments this specimen proved to be very good, but in general it remains only to repeat what was said about the larger model: the camera is capable of producing a good result, but unstable, therefore, when shooting, you need to keep an eye on it, and then with documentary shooting in in most cases it will handle it.

Telephone part and communications

The smartphone works as standard in modern 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks, and there is also support for fourth-generation LTE Cat 4 networks with a theoretical maximum possible receive rate of up to 150 Mbps, five LTE FDD Bands 1/3/7/8/20 are supported ). In practice, with the SIM-card of the domestic operator Beeline, the smartphone is confidently registered and works in 4G networks.

Networking capabilities are implemented as standard: unlike the older model Idol 3 (5.5), only one Wi-Fi range (2.4 GHz) is supported here, as a standard you can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels, Wi-Fi support is available Direct, Wi-Fi Display. Supports connecting external devices to the USB port in OTG mode. The NFC technology is also implemented here.

The navigation module works with both GPS and the domestic Glonass system, and also sees the satellites of the Chinese Beidou (BDS). There are no complaints about the navigation module, the first satellites during a cold start are identified within the first minute. The device is also equipped with a magnetic field sensor, on the basis of which the magnetic compass of navigation programs functions.

The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, when dialing a phone number, a search is immediately carried out by the first letters in contacts. Support for letter-to-letter sliding input (Swype) is not implemented in the standard Android keyboard, but in the settings you can choose as an alternative the preinstalled third-party SwiftKey keyboard with additional flexible features, including the use of the tear-off mode. The interface of all applications, including the telephone dialer, can be flipped 180 degrees, and, therefore, you can even hold the phone upside down to carry out telephone conversations on the phone.

This modification of the smartphone supports work with two SIM-cards. All work with them in the menu is conveniently organized on one page, all settings are conveniently arranged, the menu is organized clearly and intuitively. You can designate any of the SIM cards as the primary one for organizing voice calls, data transfer and sending SMS messages. A SIM card in any slot can work with 3G / 4G networks, however, only one of the cards can function in this mode at a time. To change the assignment of card slots, you do not need to swap places - this can be done directly from the phone menu. Working with two SIM cards is organized according to the familiar Dual SIM Dual Standby standard, when both cards can be in active standby mode, but cannot work at the same time - there is only one radio module.

OS and software

There are a lot of pre-installed third-party programs, they are all free, anyone could download them from the Play Store on their own. Many of these applications will not be in demand and only clog up the device's memory. Most of the games and programs have only a trial status, they will later have to be bought, and the useful ones include a file manager, Alcatel's own One Touch application center and a program for synchronizing data with a Smart Suite computer.

Also added is elementary support for several simple gestures (tapping on the screen and turning the smartphone face down) and the already mentioned possibility of flipping the interface 180 degrees. From the lock screen, you can go immediately after unlocking to a specific application - for example, to a calculator or a QR code scanner (in the settings it is called "Function", and this mode can be disabled). With a side gesture to the left, an informational feed with weather news, news headlines, etc. is pulled out, called "Onetouch Stream".

Performance

Hardware platform Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 (4.7) is based on SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 410. The platform is 64-bit, but this is an entry-level solution, the capabilities of this SoC are very limited. The central processor here has 4 Cortex-A53 cores operating at a frequency of 1.2 GHz. The graphics are processed by the Adreno 306 video processor with a core frequency of 400 MHz. The device provides 1.5 GB of RAM, the user has about 11.4 GB of free flash array. The possibility of expanding the memory by means of cards is provided only in single-symbol versions. The devices with support for two SIM-cards do not have a slot for memory cards, so the memory is allocated twice as much (16 GB in dual-SIM solutions, and only 8 GB in single-SIM solutions with support for MicroSD cards). The mode of connecting external devices to the USB port (USB Host, USB OTG) is also supported.

According to the results of testing, the performance of the budget Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 platform is expected to show very low results, at the moment it is one of the weakest and most inefficient modern 64-bit platforms. This weak platform is significantly inferior to its direct competitor, the entry-level MediaTek MT6732 platform.

So, devices based on the Snapdragon 410 platform, albeit 64-bit, can only be called “middling” devices with a huge stretch, their hardware performance is below average. The capabilities of a smartphone will be insufficient for demanding tasks such as demanding games or high-definition video processing. The weakest point of this SoC, of \u200b\u200bcourse, is the backward video subsystem Adreno 306, with all the ensuing consequences. As a result, we can state that at the moment the smartphone is close to the entry level in terms of performance, a smartphone on such a platform is not suitable for any tasks, especially when it comes to demanding video games.

Testing with the latest AnTuTu and GeekBench 3 Benchmarks:

All the results obtained by us when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks, we have summarized for convenience in tables. Several other devices from different segments are usually added to the table, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry numbers). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain behind the scenes - due to the fact that they once passed the "obstacle course" on previous versions of test programs.

Testing the graphics subsystem in the 3DMark gaming tests, GFXBenchmark, and Bonsai Benchmark:

When testing in 3DMark for the highest performing smartphones, it is now possible to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).

	Alcatel OT Idol 3 (4.7) (Qualcomm Snapdragon 410)	Lg magna (Mediatek MT6582)	Sony Xperia E4 (Mediatek MT6582)	Lenovo S90 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 410)	Samsung Galaxy A5 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 410)
3DMark Ice Storm Extreme (more is better)	2572	2073	2120	2656	2624
3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited (more is better)	4403	2872	2871	4335	4386
GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD (C24Z16 Onscreen)	9 fps	7.1 fps	9 fps	9.5 fps	9.6 fps
GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD (C24Z16 Offscreen)	5 fps	4.1 fps	4 fps	5.4 fps	5.4 fps
Bonsai benchmark	1559 (22 fps)	1250 (18 fps)	1912 (27 fps)	1693 (24 fps)	1726 (25 fps)

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for evaluating the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowances for the fact that the results in them significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so that the comparison can be truly correct only on the same OS and browsers, and this possibility is available when testing not always. In the case of Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

Thermal images

Below is a thermal image of the rear surface (top in the photo - right), obtained after 10 minutes of running the battery test in the GFXBenchmark program:

It can be seen that the heating is localized (but not very pronounced) in the upper part of the device, which apparently corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat chamber, the maximum heating was only 37 degrees, which is quite a bit.

Video playback

To test the "omnivorous" video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Web. Note that it is important for mobile devices to have support for hardware decoding of video clips at the chip level, since it is often impossible to process modern versions at the expense of processor cores alone. Also, do not expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a single table.

According to the test results, the subject was not equipped with all the necessary decoders, which are necessary for full playback of most of the most common multimedia files on the network. To play them successfully, you will have to resort to using a third-party player - for example, MX Player. True, it is also necessary to change the settings in it and manually install additional custom codecs, because now this player does not officially support the AC3 audio format.

Format	Container, video, sound	MX Video Player	Native video player
DVDRip	AVI, XviD 720 × 400 2200 Kbps, MP3 + AC3	reproduced normally	reproduced normally
Web-DL SD	AVI, XviD 720 × 400 1400 kbps, MP3 + AC3	reproduced normally	reproduced normally
Web-DL HD	MKV, H.264 1280 × 720 3000Kbps, AC3		video plays fine, no sound¹
BDRip 720p	MKV, H.264 1280 × 720 4000 Kbps, AC3	video plays fine, no sound¹	video plays fine, no sound¹
BDRip 1080p	MKV, H.264 1920 × 1080 8000 Kbps, AC3	video plays fine, no sound¹	video plays fine, no sound¹

¹ audio in MX Video Player was played only after installing an alternative custom audio codec; the standard player does not have such a setting

Testing of video output features was carried out Alexey Kudryavtsev.

We did not find the MHL interface, as well as the Mobility DisplayPort, in this smartphone, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see "Testing methods for video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)" Red marks indicate possible problems related to the playback of the corresponding files.

According to the criterion for outputting frames, the quality of video playback on the screen of the smartphone itself is good, since frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) to be displayed with a more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without frame drops. Except for 60 fps files, in which case several frames are always dropped. When playing video files with a resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels (720p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the edge of the screen, one to one pixel by pixel, that is, in the original resolution. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - all shades are displayed in shadows and highlights.

Battery life

Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 (4.7) has a small non-removable battery of only 2000 mAh. As in the case of the older model Idol 3 (5.5), there is also energy consumption, which is not very usual for ordinary smartphones, depending on the modes: in the mode of reading e-books and in games, the device turned out to be quite economical, but when playing videos, the results were simply deplorable ... In normal operation, the device confidently lives a day. The developers themselves promise up to 17 hours of talk time and up to 500 hours of standby time. The tests were traditionally carried out without using any energy-saving functions and modes, although the device has such.

	Battery capacity	Reading mode	Video mode	3D Game Mode
Alcatel OT Idol 3 (4.7)	2000 mAh	15h 00m	6h 00m	4h 10m
Lg magna	2540 mAh	13h 30m	10h 00m	4h 00m
Lg spirit	2100 mAh	12h 00m	8h 30m	3h 20m
Philips S398	2040 mAh	12h 00m	7h 00m	3h 30m
Sony Xperia E4	2300 mAh	13h 00m	9h 00m	5h 00m
Samsung Galaxy A5	2300 mAh	14h 00m	11h 00m	4h 20m
Lenovo S90	2300 mAh	11h 00m	9h 30m	3h 50m
LG L Bello	2540 mAh	14h 00m	10h 20m	4h 50m
Fly tornado slim	2050 mAh	10h 30m	7h 00m	3h 10m

Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme) at the minimum comfortable brightness level (the brightness was set to 100 cd / m2) lasted 15 hours until the battery was fully discharged, and while continuously watching videos in high quality (720p) at the same level brightness through the home Wi-Fi network, the device lasted no more than 6 hours. In game mode, the smartphone operated for a little over 4 hours. A full charge takes 2 hours 30 minutes.

Outcome

As for the price, for the younger model Alcatel One Touch Idol 3, with a screen diagonal of 4.7 inches, it has already been determined and amounts to 13,990 rubles, which for such a balanced and pleasant-looking mobile device seems to be quite an adequate price. Only the weak hardware platform Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 let us down here, otherwise we have a quite nice image model with a pleasant design, high-quality assembly, an excellent screen, high-quality sound and autonomy, as well as a rich set of network capabilities, where the only limitation is the lack of Wi-Fi frequency. Fi 5 GHz is more than offset by more important and useful LTE support. The smartphone turned out to be really interesting in all respects, there are no outright failures in anything, especially given its noble pedigree and not too high official price.

Slim and light fashion model with stereo speakers and reversible interface

The other day in Moscow, the next, already the third generation of flagship smartphones of the Alcatel One Touch brand, which, as you know, now belongs to the Chinese company TCL, was officially presented. The presentation was held under the slogan "Ready for any turn", which underlines one of the most noticeable distinguishing features of the new smartphones - a reversible design that can flip 180 degrees. This makes it possible to use the smartphone even "upside down", for which the model provides additional speakers and microphones located on both sides of the front panel of the new series Alcatel One Touch Idol 3.

The Chinese continue to develop their rather successful Alcatel One Touch Idol line, not only improving the characteristics of the devices, but also expanding the Idol family itself. Already in the second generation, additional versions of Max and Mini were added to the main Idol 2 model, however, the new Idol 3 subfamily has a slightly different story. Now, just like the iPhone 6, in the new Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 line two modifications with the same name coexist, differing only in the size of the screen diagonal. These dimensions are expected to be 5.5 and 4.7 inches, and in order not to get confused, the diagonal size value (5.5 or 4.7) is now simply added to the name of the Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 model in brackets.

New smartphones, traditionally for the Idol line, have received quite elegant dimensions. The large 5.5-inch model differs not only in its small body thickness, but also in its very small weight for such a large device. Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 (5.5) is not a record holder in these parameters, Samsung Galaxy A7 is no worse in this sense, but in any case, the new flagship Idol 3 can rightfully be ranked among the category of fashion models, where beauty and design are given not less, and perhaps much more attention than technical characteristics. The characteristics, however, of the new Idol 3 models are quite decent, and today we will consider the most advanced modification in this regard, called the Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 (5.5).

Video review

First, we suggest watching our video review of the Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 (5.5) smartphone:

Now let's take a look at the characteristics of the new item.

Main characteristics of Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 (5.5) (model 6045Y)

	Alcatel OT Idol 3 (5.5)	Lenovo P90	Meizu M1 Note	Samsung Galaxy A7	HTC Desire 820	Honor 6 Plus
Screen	5.5 ″, IPS	5.5 ″, IPS	5.5 ″, IPS	5.5 ″, Super AMOLED	5.5 ″, IPS	5.5 ″, IPS
Resolution	1920 × 1080, 401 ppi	1920 × 1080, 401 ppi	1920 × 1080, 401 ppi	1920 × 1080, 401 ppi	1280 × 720, 267 ppi	1920 × 1080, 401 ppi
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 (8 cores ARM Cortex-A53) @ 1.5 GHz	Intel Atom Z3560 (4 cores [email protected], 83 GHz	Mediatek MT6752 (8 cores ARM Cortex-A53) @ 1.7 GHz		Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 (8 cores ARM Cortex-A53) @ 1-1.5 GHz	HiSilicon Kirin 925 (4 cores Cortex-A15 @ 1.8 GHz + 4 cores [email protected], 3 GHz + i3)
GPU	Adreno 405	PowerVR G6430	Mali T760	Adreno 405	Adreno 405	Mali-T628 MP4
RAM	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB	3 GB
Flash memory	16 GB	32 GB	16/32 GB	16 GB	16 GB	16 GB
Memory card support	microSD	—	—	microSD	microSD	microSD
operating system	Google Android 5.0	Google Android 4.4	Google Android 4.4	Google Android 4.4	Google Android 4.4	Google Android 4.4
Battery	non-removable, 2910 mAh	non-removable, 4000 mAh	non-removable, 3140 mAh	non-removable, 2600 mAh	non-removable, 2600 mAh	non-removable, 3600 mAh
Cameras			rear (13 MP, 1080p video), front (5 MP)	rear (13 MP; 1080p video), front (5 MP)	rear (13 MP; 1080p video), front (8 MP)	rear (2 × 8 Mp; video 1080p), front (8 Mp)
Dimensions and weight	153 x 75 x 7.4mm, 141g	150 x 77 x 8.5mm, 156g	151 x 75 x 8.9 mm, 147 g	151 x 76 x 6.3 mm, 141 g	158 x 79 x 7.7mm, 155g	151 x 76 x 7.5mm, 164g
average price	T-12645044	T-11884491	T-11883101	T-11927009	T-11904271	T-11971680
Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 (5.5) Offers	L-12645044-10

SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 615, 1500 MHz, 8 cores ARM Cortex-A53
GPU Adreno 405 @ 550 MHz
Operating system Android 5.0.2
Touch display IPS, 5.5 ″, 1920 × 1080, 401 ppi
Random access memory (RAM) 2 GB, internal memory 16/32 GB
MicroSD support up to 128GB
Micro-SIM support (1 or 2 pcs.)
2G communication: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
3G connection: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100 MHz
Data transfer HSPA + up to 42 Mbps, LTE FDD: 1/3/7/8/20 up to 150 Mbps
Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n (2.4 / 5 GHz), Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Display, DLNA
Bluetooth 4.1, NFC
USB 2.0, OTG
GPS (A-GPS), Glonass, Beidou
13 MP camera, autofocus, LED flash
Camera 8 MP (front), fixed. focus
Proximity sensor, direction, lighting, accelerometer, electronic compass
Non-removable battery 2910 mAh
Dimensions 153 x 75 x 7.4mm
Weight 141 g

Appearance and usability

Now all smartphones entering the market, at least the most prominent of their representatives, are usually compared with the mobile products of the American company Apple. So, smartphones of the Alcatel One Touch Idol series, being quite expressive products in terms of design, certainly cannot be suspected of copying the iPhone. But Idol's pretty fashion models do not lose anything from this, designers and developers from TCL have found their way and continue to develop, adhering to the accepted line. All smartphones in the flagship Idol series, including the new Idol 3 line, are some of the sleekest mobile devices in their class on the market. This primarily concerns such parameters as the thickness of the case, as well as the weight, for which Alcatel smartphones are practically unmatched. This was the case with the release of the first Idol X and Idol X + models, and it is the same now.

The largest representative of the new pair of smartphones Idol 3 has a large 5.5-inch display, but it remains not only very thin, but also very light for its size product. Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 (5.5) received similar forms to the previous models of the Idol 2 series, the emphasis here is on design and style. The slim body has significantly rounded corners, the shiny metal side bezel adds complexity and high cost to the appearance. The front glass itself is flat, but it has been lifted off the body so that it appears slightly convex. The side bezel is not made of metal, but of plastic with a spray, but its complex typesetting structure, where pseudo-chrome stripes are interspersed with matte textured plastic, makes the Idol 3 case even more attractive.

The back panel is made of the same textured plastic as the middle part of the side rim, which has such a surface as if it had been covered with rough sandpaper. Because of this, all matte surfaces always remain presentable, as they do not collect fingerprints. Such a smartphone does not slip in the hands either, the small thickness and mass of the case contribute to a very comfortable holding of the device in the hand.

The front glass, as already noted, is noticeably raised above the overall surface of the case, while its edges are framed by a thin plastic gasket. The glass is heavily tinted, which, together with the metallic sheen of the rim, looks quite organic and stylish.

In the upper part of the front panel, in addition to the front camera and sensors, there is an LED event indicator that shines with a large dot during charging and notifies about incoming messages. There are two loudspeakers hidden behind the grilles, they are brought directly to the body, above and below the glass itself, without touching it.

Accordingly, there are no control buttons in the conventionally lower part under the screen, they are virtual here and turn over together with the entire interface. So on both upper-lower sides of the device you can find an elongated speaker grill and a microphone hole (at the end).

On the back side, accordingly, there are no speakers, only the usual eyes of the main camera and a single LED flash are located here. The camera glass is barely noticeably recessed into the body; it is framed by a neat chrome ring. To use the flash as a flashlight, you need to open the notification panel and find in it a menu for quick access to the most requested functions.

As for the cards, they are all inserted here into the side slot-like connectors, habitually driving into them on metal sled farms, and are removed by pressing the secret buttons with a key-clip. It should be noted that for both Idol 3 models (5.5 and 4.7 inches) there are modifications with support for two SIM cards, but they are not able to use a memory card.

In the case of the sample that we visited for testing, the side slot turned out to be designed for only one Micro-SIM card, and the second slot fits a microSD memory card (the second SIM card cannot be installed in its place). Those modifications that are deprived of the possibility of expanding memory using cards are produced with an increased memory capacity: 32 GB for Alcatel One Touch Idol (5.5) in the Dual SIM modification and 16 GB for the 4.7-inch version with support for two SIM-cards. In versions with one SIM card, these values \u200b\u200bare respectively 16 and 8 GB.

The rest of the connectors and buttons are located in their usual places on the side faces and ends of the device: on the right side there is a two-position volume rocker, on the bottom there is a universal Micro-USB connector that supports connecting external devices in USB OTG mode, and on the top there is a 3.5 mm jack for headphone minijack.

The side keys have a matte rough surface, protrude beyond the body to a sufficient height, feel perfectly blindly, have a pliable but elastic stroke, in general, there are no complaints about the mechanical controls.

The color variety of the Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 (5.5) modifications is provided by three different color options: black (Dark Gray), gray (Metallic Silver) and golden (Soft Gold).

Screen

The Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 (5.5) smartphone is equipped with an IPS sensor matrix combined with a protective glass using OGS technology (without an air gap). The developers also mention the Technicolor Color Enhance technology used here, designed to enhance the image, making it even more saturated and natural. In the bright sun, it should be noted that the display behaves very decently, the image always remains readable, using the smartphone screen on a bright sunny day is quite comfortable. The screen dimensions are 68 × 121 mm, diagonal - 5.5 inches, resolution - 1920 × 1080 pixels. Accordingly, the pixel density is 401 ppi.

The bezel around the screen is quite thin, the width from the screen to the edge of the body on the sides is only about 3 mm. The width of the top and bottom edges is approximately 16 mm, and this despite the fact that there are quite good stereo speakers above and below the screen. The brightness of the display can be adjusted manually, it is also possible to enable automatic adjustment based on the operation of the light sensor. Multi-touch technology allows you to handle up to 5 simultaneous touches. The smartphone also has a proximity sensor that locks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear. The screen can be activated by double tapping on the glass.

The screen of the Alcatel Idol 3 is even slightly darker (brightness in the photos is 118 versus 123 for the Nexus 7). There is practically no doubling of reflected objects in the Alcatel Idol 3 screen, this indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen (more specifically, between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix) (OGS type screen - One Glass Solution). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (such as glass / air) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked outer glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be changed. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (in terms of efficiency, not worse than that of the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much easier, and appear at a slower speed than in the case of ordinary glass.

With manual brightness control and when displaying the white field in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 540 cd / m² (and can be raised to 630 cd / m² when using third-party programs), the minimum is 27 cd / m². The maximum brightness is very high, which means, given the excellent anti-glare properties, readability even on a sunny day outdoors should be at a good level. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable value (however, this depends on the individual characteristics of the user's eyesight, and this value may seem high to someone). In the presence of automatic brightness control by the light sensor (it is located to the right of the front camera). In automatic mode, when the ambient light conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. This function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment slider. If it is 100%, then in complete darkness, the automatic brightness adjustment function reduces the brightness to 230 cd / m2 (very much), in an office illuminated with artificial light (about 400 lux), the brightness rises to 470 cd / m2 (also a lot), in in very bright environments (equivalent to bright outdoor daylight but no direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or slightly more) is set to 590 cd / m² (good). The brightness slider is 50% - the values \u200b\u200bare as follows: 33, 270 and 530 cd / m² (the average value is higher than sufficient), by 0% - 27, 50 and 340 cd / m² (the last two values \u200b\u200bare underestimated). In fact, when setting the slider to a value slightly lower than 50%, we got an acceptable (from our point of view) set of values \u200b\u200b- 27, 200 and 480 cd / m2.It turns out that the automatic brightness control function works adequately, and it is possible to adjust the nature of the brightness change to the user's requirements ... At any brightness level, there is practically no backlight modulation, so there is no screen flickering either.

This smartphone uses an IPS-type matrix. The micrographs show the typical IPS sub-pixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of photomicrographs of screens used in mobile technology.

The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift, even with large gaze deviations from the perpendicular to the screen and without tint inversion. For comparison, we present photographs in which the same images are displayed on the screens of Alcatel Idol 3 and Nexus 7, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to about 200 cd / m2, and the color balance on the camera was forcibly switched to 6500 K. The white field is perpendicular to the screens:

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field. And the test picture:

Color reproduction is good, color balance is slightly different, color saturation is natural. Now at an angle of about 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors did not change much on both screens and the contrast remained at a good level. And the white box:

The brightness at the angle of the screens decreased (at least 5 times, based on the difference in exposure), but the Alcatel Idol 3 has a slightly darker screen. The black field, when deviated along the diagonal, is lightened weakly and acquires a red-violet tint or remains approximately neutral-gray. The photos below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same!):

And from a different angle:

From a perpendicular view, the black field uniformity is very good:

The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is high - about 960: 1. The response time for the transition black-white-black is 19 ms (9 ms on + 10 ms off). The transition between gray tones of 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes 35 ms in total. The gamma curve, plotted using 32 points with equal intervals in terms of the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal a blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.14, which is slightly below the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve deviates somewhat from the power dependence:

The color gamut is almost equal to sRGB:

The spectra show that the matrix filters moderately mix the components together:

As a result, colors have natural saturation. The balance of shades on the gray scale is good, since the color temperature is slightly higher than the standard 6500 K and the deviation from the spectrum of the absolute black body (ΔE) is less than 3, which is considered an acceptable indicator even for a professional device. At the same time, the color temperature and ΔE vary little from shade to shade - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of the color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since the color balance is not very important there, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

To summarize: the screen has a very high maximum brightness and has excellent anti-reflective properties, so the device can be used outdoors without problems even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable level. The automatic brightness control mode works well. The advantages of the screen include the absence of flickering and air gap in the layers of the screen, excellent uniformity of the black field and high contrast, high stability of black to deviation of the gaze from the perpendicular to the plane of the screen, good color balance, equal to the sRGB color gamut. There are no significant flaws, this is generally one of the best screens ever tested in our laboratory.

Sound

In terms of sound, the Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 (5.5) has everything at a high level. Two powerful 1.2W front speakers create a surround sound experience with built-in JBL Clari-Fi technology. This technology is also designed to restore the original sound quality from compressed music files, such as MP3, Internet radio or streaming audio (we have heard enough about these magical technologies when applied to computer sound cards, but now it's time for mobile devices). The smartphone sounds really decent, thick, bright and saturated with all frequencies, the sound can be obtained both from the stereo speakers on the case and through the headphones. The maximum volume level is high, no distortions and wheezing were noticed. In conversational dynamics, the voice of a familiar interlocutor remains distinguishable, timbre and intonation are recognizable.

To play music, a proprietary Google Music player is provided here without any settings available to the user that can affect the sound quality. Obviously, the manufacturer suggests using an application called Mix instead, which is, in fact, an integrated music center. With it, you can not only play the audio tracks and streaming audio already loaded into the device, but also combine them almost like a real DJ. Here you can sync tracks, make smooth mixing, add audio effects, delete and re-record your compositions. To work in this "manual" mode, the horizontal position of the smartphone is used, but you can simply let the program automatically "mix" tracks in portrait mode.

FM-radio is present in the smartphone's configuration, it cannot record programs from the air. The ability to record telephone conversations using standard means is also not provided here.

Camera

Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 (5.5) is equipped with two digital camera modules with a resolution of 13 and 8 megapixels. The front module has a sensor with a decent resolution of 8 megapixels, optics with an f / 2.3 aperture and a wide viewing angle, has a fixed focus, but does not have its own flash. The quality of shooting for selfies is quite satisfactory. If you want to embellish your self-portrait, then an additional retouching mode is connected in the settings with sliders that smoothly change the tone and texture of the skin in the picture. Even more possibilities for “tuning” your own image can be obtained with the preinstalled Facetune program - however, it turned out to be just a trial version of the application.

The main camera is equipped with a 13-megapixel Sony module with an f / 2.0 aperture lens, fast enough autofocus, and a single LED flash. There is no optical stabilization here, only electronic. With regard to fast autofocus, the developers especially note the presence of a special technology FotoNation, which allows the camera to recognize faces and focus in just 0.26 seconds, which should guarantee the clarity of the taken portraits.

The interface for controlling the camera is simple and convenient: all the current settings are combined into one drop-down scroll, and the choice of additional modes is carried out by calling the context menu on the right. In addition to the automatic shooting mode, there are several additional ones, such as HDR, panoramic, single-frame and retouching modes; here you can immediately turn on the QR code scanner, which is convenient. There is also a manual mode in which all settings can be adjusted manually.

The camera can shoot video in maximum Full HD resolution (1920 × 1080, 30 fps), an example of test clips is presented below.

Movie # 1 (47 MB, 1920 × 1080, 30 fps)

	The text is well done, although sharpness drops noticeably towards the edges.
	In the left and central parts of the frame, the sharpness is good, in the right, the foliage merges almost immediately.
	In general, sharpness is good, but there is a large out-of-focus area on the right side of the frame.
	The camera copes well with macro photography.
	Such an arrangement of out-of-focus areas may indicate a skewed lens in the lens.
	Despite the strong noises in the shadows, the license plates are legible.
	Sometimes the camera succeeds in taking pictures without significant defects.
	Sharpness is distributed over the field of the frame and over the plans in a somewhat strange way.
	The foreground has been worked out well thanks to the focus "moving" on it. The rest of the shots are getting worse, not to mention the large out-of-focus area on the left.
	If you do not take into account the lower right quarter of the frame, the sharpness in the field and in the plans is not bad.
	The camera's white balance isn't doing well either: the sunset was actually pink.

We also tested the camera on a laboratory bench using our method.

The camera turned out to be quite good for the mid-budget segment, but still, lately we have had better solutions in our tests. First of all, it upsets the abundance of areas of blur, which, moreover, are of an irregular nature. It is difficult to unambiguously link this with focusing problems or the quality of optics, but the flaws in the lens are definitely present. The corners of the frame in most images are out of focus, and software processing aggravates the picture. The fact that the sensor is relatively weak can be seen even in bright scenes. In the shadows, the noises appear quite strongly, and are just as strongly suppressed by the noise reduction, which manifests itself in the grain and uneven edges of small details.

Almost all the shortcomings are confirmed by a laboratory test. With the deterioration of lighting, the resolution drops sharply, and the examined edge of the frame is beyond the range of acceptable values. Moreover, some edges are worked out even worse.

Nevertheless, the camera is capable of producing a good result, but it is unstable, so when shooting it is necessary to keep an eye on it, and then it will cope with documentary shooting in most cases.

Telephone part and communications

The network capabilities are well implemented: there is support for Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Display and DLNA, you can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels. The Wi-Fi module supports work in both frequency ranges (2.4 and 5 GHz), Bluetooth has version 4.1, it supports the connection of wearable devices such as smart watches and bracelets. Supports connecting external devices to the USB port in OTG mode. Also implemented here is the NFC technology with the Android Beam data exchange technology functioning on its basis.

The navigation module works with both GPS and the domestic Glonass system, and also sees the satellites of the Chinese Beidou (BDS). There are no complaints about the navigation module, the first satellites are found within the first minute. The device is also equipped with a magnetic field sensor, on the basis of which the magnetic compass of navigation programs functions.

The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, when dialing a phone number, a search is immediately carried out by the first letters in contacts. Support for continuous sliding from letter to letter (Swype) is not implemented in the standard Android keyboard, but in the settings you can choose as an alternative the pre-installed third-party SwiftKey keyboard, which has a huge mass of various flexible settings, including the continuous input mode. Any special features for reducing virtual keyboard units in size for ease of operation with one hand are not noticed. At this point, it is worth reminding once again that the interface of all applications, including the telephone dialer, can be flipped 180 degrees, and therefore, you can even hold the phone upside down to carry out telephone conversations on the phone. We also note that there is a modification of the Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 (5.5 and 4.7) models on the market, which supports work with two SIM cards.

OS and software

As a system, the device uses the Google Android software platform of the latest version 5.0.2 without additional shells, that is, the interface here for the most part looks and functions exactly as intended by the creators of the Android OS. All the most noticeable features of the latest, fifth version of this operating system are in place, such as a kind of minimalistic graphic design in the Material Design style, pop-up interactive information panels, a two-position corporate notification menu with a quick access bar to the most important settings. However, the most inconvenient moments have been improved: it is possible to display the remaining battery charge at the top of the screen as a percentage, you can close all previously open applications with one click. Over the air (OTA) update is supported. I would especially like to note the high-quality translation of all sections and menus without exception, including those added by the developers of the device itself. After the uncertified "Chinese" from online stores, such a thoughtfully worked out, beautifully designed and well-functioning OS with all its add-ons seems like a breath of clean air.

On their own, the developers have added a widget that has recently become fashionable, sliding with a side shift on the left, which is a constantly updated and customizable information feed with weather news, updates of popular applications, news site headlines, etc. All this is called here "Onetouch Stream". Also added elementary support for gestures (tapping on the screen and turning the smartphone face down) and the already mentioned possibility of flipping the interface 180 degrees. From the lock screen, you can go immediately after unlocking to a specific application - for example, to a calculator or a QR code scanner (in the settings it is called "Function", and this mode can be disabled).

There are a great many pre-installed third-party programs, all of them are free, anyone could download them from the Play Store on their own. Many of these applications will not be in demand and only clog up the device's memory. Most of the games and programs have only a trial status, they will later have to be bought, and the useful ones include a file manager, Alcatel's own One Touch application center and a program for synchronizing data with a Smart Suite computer.

Performance

The Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 (5.5) hardware platform is based on an eight-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 SoC (MSM8939). This 64-bit platform is made using big.LITTLE technology, where four Cortex-A53 processor cores coexist with four Cortex-A53 cores of the same type, but these fours have different maximum operating frequencies. Depending on the nature and degree of loading, either 4 "junior" or 4 "senior" (up to 1.5 GHz) cores are switched on, which saves energy. The video accelerator Adreno 405 with a frequency of up to 550 MHz is responsible for graphics processing. SoC Snapdragon 615 is made on the 28 nm process technology and belongs to the middle level.

The amount of RAM of the smartphone is 2 GB. The device has 16 GB of flash memory, of which just over 9.5 GB is available for the needs of the user himself. The amount of memory can be increased by using microSD cards or flash drives connected to the Micro-USB port in OTG mode.

According to the test results, the eight-core SoC Snapdragon 615 showed average results, approximately at the level of 30K in AnTuTu v 5.x, while for top solutions this value is now from 45K and above. There is nothing special to add here, the platform is far from the most productive modern SoCs that are installed in flagship solutions in its capabilities. The lot of devices with such a filling is a confident average level, nothing more. Nevertheless, the smartphone described today is powerful enough to be able to perform almost any task for some time, including 3D games.

Testing with the latest AnTuTu and GeekBench 3 Benchmarks:

Testing the graphics subsystem in the 3DMark gaming tests, GFXBenchmark, and Bonsai Benchmark:

	Alcatel OT Idol 3 5.5 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 615)	Lenovo P90 (Intel Atom Z3560)	Meizu M1 Note (Mediatek MT6752)	Samsung Galaxy A7 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 615)	HTC Desire 820 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 615)	Honor 6 Plus (HiSilicon Kirin 925)
3DMark Ice Storm Extreme (more is better)	5281	Maxed out!	6517	5373	5866	9113
3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited (more is better)	7423	14543	10606	7700	8990	13849
GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD (C24Z16 Onscreen)	15 fps	26 fps	15 fps	14 fps	26 fps	17 fps
GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD (C24Z16 Offscreen)	14 fps	27 fps	15 fps	15 fps	15 fps	17 fps
Bonsai benchmark	1844 (26 fps)	3641 (52 fps)	3318 (47 fps)	1946 (28 fps)	2777 (40 fps)	3726 (53 fps)

Browser cross-platform tests:

Thermal images

Below is a thermal image of the rear surface (top in the photo - right), obtained after 10 minutes of running the battery test in the GFXBenchmark program:

It can be seen that the heating is localized in the upper part of the device, which, apparently, corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat chamber, the maximum heating was 42 degrees, which is relatively little.

Video playback

Format	Container, video, sound	MX Video Player	Native video player
DVDRip	AVI, XviD 720 × 400 2200 Kbps, MP3 + AC3	reproduced normally	reproduced normally
Web-DL SD	AVI, XviD 720 × 400 1400 kbps, MP3 + AC3	reproduced normally	reproduced normally
Web-DL HD	MKV, H.264 1280 × 720 3000Kbps, AC3		video plays fine, no sound¹
BDRip 720p	MKV, H.264 1280 × 720 4000 Kbps, AC3	video plays fine, no sound¹	video plays fine, no sound¹
BDRip 1080p	MKV, H.264 1920 × 1080 8000 Kbps, AC3	video plays fine, no sound¹	video plays fine, no sound¹

¹ audio in MX Video Player was played only after installing an alternative custom audio codec; the standard player does not have such a setting

Testing of video output features was carried out Alexey Kudryavtsev.

We did not find the MHL interface, like Mobility DisplayPort, in this smartphone, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see "Testing techniques for video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)"). Screenshots with an exposure of 1 s helped to determine the nature of the frame output of video files with different parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p) and 1920 by 1080 (1080p) pixels) and the frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps) from). In our tests, we used the MX Player video player in the "Hardware" mode. The test results are summarized in the table:

720 / 30p fine no 720 / 25p well no 720 / 24p fine no

Note: If both columns Uniformity and Skips green ratings are set, this means that, most likely, when watching movies, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and skipping of frames will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems with the playback of the respective files.

According to the criterion for outputting frames, the quality of video playback on the screen of the smartphone itself is very good, since frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) to be displayed with a more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without frame drops. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the edge of the screen, one to one pixel by pixel, that is, in the original resolution. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - all shades are displayed in shadows and highlights.

Battery life

Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 (5.5) has a non-removable battery of a very decent capacity of 2910 mAh, which, given such a small mass of the device, only commands respect. However, the smartphone did not show any record indicators in terms of battery life, everything is within the normal range for a flagship with a large Full HD screen. In normal operating mode, the device confidently survives until the evening charge, with moderate use it is quite capable of lasting two days. It is also worth noting that testing was traditionally carried out without using any energy-saving functions and modes, although the device has them.

	Battery capacity	Reading mode	Video mode	3D Game Mode
Alcatel OT Idol 3 (5.5)	2910 mAh	17h 00m	8h 30m	3h 20m
Lenovo P90	4000 mAh	16h 00m	13h 00m	4h 40m
Meizu M1 Note	3140 mAh	16h 40m	13h 20m	4h 45m
Samsung Galaxy A7	2600 mAh	22h 10m	12h 00m	3h 20m
HTC Desire 820	2600 mAh	13h 00m	7h 40m	4h 10m
Honor 6 Plus	3600 mAh	20 h 00 m	10h 00m	4h 30m
Samsung Galaxy A5	2300 mAh	14h 00m	11h 00m	4h 20m
Huawei Ascend G7	3000 mAh	20 h 00 m	13h 30m	6h 30m
Huawei Mate 7	4100 mAh	20 h 00 m	12h 30m	4h 25m

Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme) at the minimum comfortable brightness level (the brightness was set to 100 cd / m2) lasted 17 hours until the battery was fully discharged, and while continuously watching videos in high quality (720p) at the same level brightness through the home Wi-Fi network, the device lasted 8.5 hours. In game mode, the smartphone lasted a little less than 3.5 hours. Full charging takes 2 hours and 50 minutes.

Outcome

As for the price, for the younger model Alcatel One Touch Idol 3, with a screen diagonal of 4.7 inches, it has already been determined and amounts to 13,990 rubles, that is, even less than 15,000. The older modification with a 5.5-inch screen, which is the hero of today's review, is not yet sold in our stores, but according to preliminary data, its price will be 19,990 rubles. That is, the cost of a well-made fashion model with a pleasant design, high-quality assembly, a reliable hardware platform and an excellently functioning software part, with a great screen, excellent sound and autonomy and a rich set of network capabilities does not exceed the level of 20 thousand rubles for a certified model, which is at times and with the current realities of the domestic market it is not bad. The smartphone turned out to be really interesting in all respects, there are no frank failures in anything, and given its pedigree and sane official price, the device has every right to the closest attention from thoughtful buyers of mobile technology.

If Alcatel cannot be called the leader of the mobile market, then there is no reason to argue about the recognition of this brand. The company has long been involved in telecommunications and computer equipment, including mobile devices.

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We have been in our laboratory more than once with Alcatel products, so we will not delve into the history of the brand. But it is imperative to talk about fresh news, since they are often very interesting.

At the 2015 Barcelona show, Alcatel unveiled two new smartphones with the same name but different specifications. The new Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 hides two modifications with different screen sizes and hardware stuffing. The devices also differ in price. We have tested a more affordable, simple and compact version with a screen diagonal of 4.7 inches.

Idol series smartphones combine functionality, interesting design and many useful solutions that are unique for the company. So let's not delay and get down to exploring the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3.

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On sale, the 4.7-inch smartphone will be available in two versions: with 8 GB of internal memory for data storage in the version with one SIM card slot and 16 GB of internal memory in the version with two SIM card slots. OneTouch Idol 3 is officially delivered to the Russian market and is accompanied by local support. There are dark gray, silver and golden body colors. We are testing a dark gray version.

The price of OneTouch Idol 3 is currently around 14 thousand rubles. The device is still presented only in a few stores, but soon the new product should be widely used.

Information about the brand, model and alternative names of a specific device, if any.

Design

Information about the dimensions and weight of the device, presented in different units of measurement. Materials used, offered colors, certificates.

Width Width information - refers to the horizontal side of the device in its standard orientation during use.	75.14 mm (millimeters) 7.51 cm (centimeters) 0.25 ft (feet) 2.96 in (inches)
Height Height information - refers to the vertical side of the device in its standard orientation during use.	152.7 mm (millimeters) 15.27 cm (centimeters) 0.5 ft (feet) 6.01 in (inches)
Thickness Information about the thickness of the device in different units.	7.4 mm (millimeters) 0.74 cm (centimeters) 0.02 ft (feet) 0.29 in (inches)
Weight Information about the weight of the device in different units of measurement.	140 g (grams) 0.31 lbs (pounds) 4.96 oz (ounces)
Volume The approximate volume of the device, based on the dimensions provided by the manufacturer. Refers to devices with a rectangular parallelepiped shape.	84.91 cm³ (cubic centimeters) 5.16 in³ (cubic inches)
Colors Information about the colors in which this unit is offered for sale.	Grey
Materials for making the body Materials used to make the device body.	Plastic

SIM card

The SIM card is used in mobile devices to store data that certifies the authenticity of mobile service subscribers.

Mobile networks

A mobile network is a radio system that allows multiple mobile devices to communicate with each other.

GSM GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) is designed to replace the analog mobile network (1G). For this reason, GSM is often referred to as a 2G mobile network. It is enhanced by the addition of GPRS (General Packet Radio Services) and later EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) technologies.	GSM 850 MHz GSM 900 MHz GSM 1800 MHz GSM 1900 MHz
UMTS UMTS stands for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System. It is based on the GSM standard and refers to 3G mobile networks. Developed by 3GPP and its biggest advantage is to provide more speed and spectral efficiency thanks to W-CDMA technology.	UMTS 850 MHz UMTS 1700/2100 MHz UMTS 1900 MHz UMTS 2100 MHz
LTE LTE (Long Term Evolution) is defined as a fourth generation (4G) technology. It is developed by 3GPP based on GSM / EDGE and UMTS / HSPA with the aim of increasing the capacity and speed of wireless mobile networks. The subsequent development of technologies is called LTE Advanced.	LTE 700 MHz Class 17 LTE 850 MHz LTE 1900 MHz LTE 2100 MHz LTE 2600 MHz LTE 700 MHz (B12)

Mobile technology and data rates

Communication between devices in mobile networks is carried out using technologies that provide different data rates.

Operating system

An operating system is the system software that controls and coordinates the operation of hardware components in a device.

SoC (System on a Chip)

A system on a chip (SoC) integrates all the major hardware components of a mobile device into a single chip.

SoC (System on a Chip) A system on a chip (SoC) integrates various hardware components such as a processor, graphics processor, memory, peripherals, interfaces, etc., as well as the software required for their operation.	Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 MSM8939
Technological process Information about the technological process by which the chip is manufactured. The value in nanometers is half the distance between the elements in the processor.	28 nm (nanometers)
Processor (CPU) The main function of the processor (CPU) of a mobile device is to interpret and execute instructions contained in software applications.	4x 1.5 GHz ARM Cortex-A53, 4x 1.0 GHz ARM Cortex-A53
Bit processor The capacity (bits) of the processor is determined by the size (in bits) of registers, address buses and data buses. 64-bit processors offer better performance than 32-bit processors, which are more efficient than 16-bit processors.	64 bit
Instruction set architecture Instructions are commands with which the software sets / controls the processor. Information about the instruction set (ISA) that the processor can execute.	ARMv8
Level 0 cache (L0) Some processors have L0 (level 0) cache memory, which can be accessed faster than L1, L2, L3, etc. The advantage of having such memory is not only higher performance, but also lower power consumption.	4KB + 4KB (kilobytes)
Level 1 cache (L1) The cache memory is used by the processor to reduce the time it takes to access more frequently used data and instructions. L1 (Level 1) cache is small and is much faster than both system memory and other levels of cache. If the processor does not find the requested data in L1, it continues to look for it in the L2 cache. On some processors, this search is performed simultaneously in L1 and L2.	16 KB + 16 KB (kilobytes)
L2 cache L2 (level 2) cache is slower than L1, but instead has a larger capacity, allowing more data to be cached. It, like L1, is much faster than system memory (RAM). If the processor does not find the requested data in L2, it continues to look for them in L3 cache memory (if available) or in RAM memory.	2048 KB (kilobytes) 2 MB (megabytes)
Number of processor cores The processor core executes program instructions. There are processors with one, two or more cores. Having more cores increases performance by allowing multiple instructions to execute in parallel.	8
CPU clock speed The clock speed of a processor describes its speed in cycles per second. It is measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz).	1500 MHz (megahertz)
Graphics processing unit (GPU) A graphics processing unit (GPU) handles computation for a variety of 2D / 3D graphics applications. In mobile devices, it is most commonly used by games, consumer interfaces, video applications, and more.	Qualcomm Adreno 405
GPU clock speed Speed \u200b\u200bis the clock speed of the GPU and is measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz).	550 MHz (megahertz)
The amount of random access memory (RAM) Random access memory (RAM) is used by the operating system and all installed applications. The data that is saved in RAM is lost after the device is turned off or restarted.	2 GB (gigabytes)
Memory type (RAM) Information about the type of random access memory (RAM) used by the device.	LPDDR3
Number of RAM channels Information about the number of RAM channels which are integrated into the SoC. More channels means higher data rates.	Single channel
RAM frequency The frequency of the RAM determines its speed of operation, more specifically, the speed of reading / writing data.	800 MHz (megahertz)

Built-in memory

Each mobile device has built-in (non-removable) fixed memory.

Memory cards

Memory cards are used in mobile devices to increase the storage space for data.

Screen

The screen of a mobile device is characterized by its technology, resolution, pixel density, diagonal length, color depth, etc.

Type / technology One of the main characteristics of the screen is the technology by which it is made and on which the image quality of information directly depends.	IPS
Diagonal On mobile devices, screen size is expressed in terms of the length of its diagonal, measured in inches.	5.5 in (inches) 139.7 mm (millimeters) 13.97 cm (centimeters)
Width Approximate screen width	2.7 in (inches) 68.49 mm (millimeters) 6.85 cm (centimeters)
Height Approximate screen height	4.79 in (inches) 121.76 mm (millimeters) 12.18 cm (centimeters)
Aspect ratio The aspect ratio of the long side of the screen to its short side	1.778:1 16:9
Resolution Screen resolution shows the number of pixels horizontally and vertically on the screen. Higher resolution means sharper image detail.	1080 x 1920 pixels
Pixel density Information about the number of pixels per centimeter or inch of the screen. Higher density allows information to be shown on the screen in clearer detail.	401 ppi (pixels per inch) 157 ppcm (pixels per centimeter)
Color depth Screen color depth reflects the total number of bits used for color components in one pixel. Information about the maximum number of colors the screen can display.	24 bit 16777216 flowers
Screen area The approximate percentage of the display area on the front of the device.	72.91% (percent)
Other characteristics Information about other functions and features of the screen.	Capacitive Multitouch
	OGS (One Glass Solution) Full Lamination Technology Oleophobic (lipophobic) coating

Sensors

Different sensors perform different quantitative measurements and convert physical indicators into signals that the mobile device can recognize.

Rear camera

The main camera of a mobile device is usually located on its rear panel and can be combined with one or more additional cameras.

Sensor model Information about the make and model of the sensor used by the camera.	Sony IMX214 Exmor RS
Sensor type Information about the type of camera sensor. Some of the most widely used sensor types in mobile cameras are CMOS, BSI, ISOCELL, and others.	CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor)
Sensor size Information about the dimensions of the photo sensor used in the device. Typically, cameras with a larger sensor and lower pixel density offer higher image quality despite lower resolution.	4.69 x 3.52 mm (millimeters) 0.23 in (inches)
Pixel size Pixels are usually measured in microns. Larger pixels are capable of capturing more light and therefore provide better low-light performance and wider dynamic range than smaller pixels. On the other hand, smaller pixels allow for higher resolution while maintaining the same sensor size.	1.127 μm (micrometers) 0.001127 mm (millimeters)
Crop factor The crop factor is the ratio between the size of a full-frame sensor (36 x 24 mm, equivalent to a frame of standard 35 mm film) and the size of the device's photo sensor. The number shown is the ratio of the diagonals of a full-frame sensor (43.3 mm) to that of a specific device's photo sensor.	7.38
ISO (light sensitivity) The ISO value / speed indicates the sensor's sensitivity to light. Digital camera sensors operate within a specific ISO range. The higher the ISO speed, the higher the sensor's sensitivity to light.	100 - 2400
Light-strength Aperture (also known as aperture, aperture, or f-number) is a measure of the size of the lens aperture, which determines the amount of light entering the sensor. The lower the f-number, the larger the aperture and the more light reaches the sensor. Usually, the f-number is indicated, which corresponds to the largest possible aperture.	f / 2
Focal length The focal length indicates the distance in millimeters from the sensor to the optical center of the lens. Equivalent focal length (35 mm) is the focal length of a mobile device camera, equated to the focal length of a 35 mm full-frame sensor, which will achieve the same angle of view. It is calculated by multiplying the real focal length of the mobile device camera by the crop factor of its sensor. The crop factor can be defined as the ratio between the diagonals of a 35mm full-size sensor and a mobile device sensor.	3.75 mm (millimeters) 27.69 mm (millimeters) * (35 mm / full frame)
Flash type The rear (rear) cameras of mobile devices mainly use LED flashes. They can be configured with one, two or more light sources and vary in shape.	LED
Image Resolution	4160 x 3120 pixels 12.98 MP (megapixels)
Video resolution	1920 x 1080 pixels 2.07 MP (megapixels)
Video recording rate (frame rate) Information about the maximum recording rate (frames per second, fps) supported by the camera at maximum resolution. Some of the most basic video recording speeds are 24 fps, 25 fps, 30 fps, 60 fps.	30 frames / sec (frames per second)
Specifications Information about additional software and hardware features of the rear (rear) camera.	Autofocus Digital zoom Digital image stabilization Geographic tags Panoramic shooting HDR shooting Touch focus Face recognition Adjusting the white balance ISO setting Exposure compensation Self-timer Scene selection mode

Front-camera

Smartphones have one or more front cameras of different designs - pop-up camera, PTZ camera, notch or hole in the display, camera under the display.

line of sight The field of view shows how much of the scene in front of the camera will be filmed. This depends not only on the focal length, but also on the size of the sensor. It can be calculated through the angle of view of the optics and the crop factor of the sensor. Angle of view is the angle between the two farthest diagonal points in the frame.	84 ° (degrees)
Image Resolution Resolution is one of the main characteristics of cameras. It represents the number of horizontal and vertical pixels in the image. For convenience, smartphone manufacturers often quote resolutions in megapixels, indicating the approximate number of pixels in millions.	3264 x 2448 pixels 7.99 MP (megapixels)
Video resolution Information about the maximum video resolution that the camera can record.	1920 x 1080 pixels 2.07 MP (megapixels)

Audio

Information about the type of speakers and audio technology supported by the device.

Radio

The radio of the mobile device is a built-in FM receiver.

Locating

Information about the navigation and positioning technologies supported by the device.

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is a technology that enables wireless communication for transferring data over short distances between various devices.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a standard for secure wireless transfer of data between different types of devices over short distances.

USB

USB (Universal Serial Bus) is an industry standard that allows different electronic devices to exchange data.

Headphone jack

This is an audio connector, which is also called an audio connector. The most widely used standard in mobile devices is the 3.5mm headphone jack.

Connecting devices

Information about other important connection technologies supported by the device.

Browser

A web browser is a software application for accessing and viewing information on the Internet.

Video file formats / codecs

Mobile devices support different video file formats and codecs, which respectively store and encode / decode digital video data.

Battery

Mobile device batteries differ in their capacity and technology. They provide the electrical charge required for their function.

Capacity The capacity of a battery indicates the maximum charge it can store, measured in milliampere-hours.	2910 mAh (milliampere-hours)
A type The type of battery is determined by its structure and, more precisely, by the chemicals used. There are different types of batteries, with the most common mobile devices using lithium-ion and lithium-ion polymer batteries.	Li-polymer
Talk time 2G Talk time in 2G is the period of time during which the battery charge is completely discharged during a continuous conversation on a 2G network.	13 h (hours) 780 min (minutes) 0.5 days
Standby time 2G Standby time in 2G is the period of time during which the battery is completely discharged when the device is in stand-by mode and connected to a 2G network.	600 h (hours) 36000 min (minutes) 25 days
Talk time 3G Talk time in 3G is the period of time during which the battery charge is completely discharged during a continuous conversation on a 3G network.	13 h (hours) 780 min (minutes) 0.5 days
3G standby time Standby time in 3G is the period of time during which the battery charge is completely discharged when the device is in stand-by mode and connected to a 3G network.	600 h (hours) 36000 min (minutes) 25 days
Specifications Information about some additional characteristics of the device battery.	Non-removable

Specific Absorption Rate (SAR)

SAR level refers to the amount of electromagnetic radiation absorbed by the human body when using a mobile device.

Head SAR (EU) The SAR level indicates the maximum amount of electromagnetic radiation to which the human body is exposed if you hold a mobile device near your ear in a talking position. In Europe, the maximum SAR value for mobile devices is limited to 2 W / kg per 10 grams of human tissue. This standard was established by the CENELEC committee in accordance with the IEC standards, following the ICNIRP guidelines of 1998.	1.631 W / kg (Watts per kilogram)
Body SAR (EU) The SAR level indicates the maximum amount of electromagnetic radiation that a person's body is exposed to when holding a mobile device at hip level. The highest SAR value for mobile devices in Europe is 2 W / kg per 10 grams of human tissue. This standard was established by the CENELEC committee in accordance with ICNIRP guidelines from 1998 and IEC standards.	0.898 W / kg (Watts per kilogram)
Head SAR (US) The SAR level indicates the maximum amount of electromagnetic radiation that the human body is exposed to when holding a mobile device near the ear. The maximum value used in the USA is 1.6 W / kg per gram of human tissue. US mobile devices are controlled by CTIA and the FCC conducts tests and sets their SAR values.	1.39 W / kg (Watts per kilogram)
Body SAR (US) The SAR level indicates the maximum amount of electromagnetic radiation that a person's body is exposed to when holding a mobile device at hip level. The highest SAR value in the United States is 1.6 W / kg per gram of human tissue. This value is set by the FCC and CTIA monitors mobile devices for compliance with this standard.	1.42 W / kg (Watts per kilogram)

ALCATEL ONETOUCH Idol 3 was announced in March at MWC 2015. Unfortunately, we only got it now. Of course, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since the announcement, but still the device has its own chips, which we will get acquainted with in the review.

Inside the dark blue box is a smartphone, a 2A charger, a USB cable, paper documentation and a JBL headset. It is unexpected and pleasant to see a headset from a renowned manufacturer in the kit. The flagship devices of the first tier manufacturers cannot boast of this.

Appearance and usability

First, it is worth noting that there are two outwardly identical devices with the name Idol 3. The differences lie in the diagonal of the screen and the filling. We got a smartphone with a 5.5-inch screen, but there is also a 4.7-inch one. There are also two versions of the Idol 3 5.5 itself - we are testing the 6045K version, which received a slot for two SIM cards and a built-in 32 GB drive. There is also a version 6045Y with one SIM card and 16 GB of internal memory, but expandable with microSD memory cards.

ALCATEL ONETOUCH smartphones have always been good with design. So the flagship model did not fall face down in the mud.

The front side has a complex shape. The display unit is located on a small step. In its upper part there is a light indicator, a front camera and proximity and lighting sensors. The top and bottom edges have stereo speakers. Power and volume keys are spaced on the left and right sides, respectively. The microSIM slot is on the left. Not the top end - 3.5 audio jack and an additional microphone. At the bottom is the main microphone and microUSB.

The body is non-separable. On the back is a 13 megapixel main camera and a single LED flash. In addition, here you can find the logos of the manufacturer and the Idol line. It is worth noting that the cover is made of plastic that perfectly imitates metal.

The side face has an interesting design - on the sides there are thin plastic inserts for metal, and in the center there is a plastic insert in the color of the case.

In terms of usability, the Idol 3 performed well, even with a 5.5 display. It has dimensions of 152.7 × 75.14 × 7.4 mm and a weight of 141 g. The latter gives the feeling of a weightless phone. Thanks to unlocking the screen by double tap, there is no need to reach for the power key. When gripping with the right hand, the index finger is below the power key, and under the thumb is the volume rocker.

Display

ALCATEL ONETOUCH Idol 3 is equipped with a 5.5-inch IPS screen made using OGS technology with Full HD resolution. There is an automatic brightness control sensor, which works correctly, as well as a good oleophobic coating.

Having measured the screen, we can say that the maximum brightness is 518 cd / m², and the minimum is 31.7 cd / m². Contrast is 1 to 831. It should be noted that the maximum brightness is very high. This makes it easier to operate your smartphone in direct sunlight. But the high value of the minimum brightness negates the desire to read from the device before going to bed.

The display color gamut is slightly wider than the sRGB triangle. The color temperature is at 6000K. This means that the colors on the screen will be slightly warmer than necessary. The gamma curve is far from the reference. As a result, the image will be brighter than necessary.

Subjectively, the screen is normal. Yes, the calibration is not the best, but overall the colors are pleasant, the screen has good contrast. A significant disadvantage will be the high value of the minimum brightness.

Hardware platform

ALCATEL ONETOUCH Idol 3 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor (MSM8939). It consists of four Cortex-A53 cores @ 1.5 GHz and four Cortex-A53 cores @ 1 GHz. In the role of a video accelerator - Adreno 405.

The amount of RAM is 2 GB, and the built-in 32 GB. After switching on, about 800 MB of RAM is available.

The benchmark results are not impressive, we have a mid-range smartphone. In terms of performance, it competes with solutions based on the Mediatek MT6752 platform. Those who like to play demanding games at high graphics settings will be disappointed by the device, but for all other tasks it will do. The overall system performance is not very high. Here and there there are small interface jams. Although, the average user is unlikely to notice this.

Wi-Fi does not support AC standard. Bluetooth has version 4.1. There is support for FM radio, GPS and NFC. All wireless networks work well. Wi-Fi keeps the network confidently and does not lose signal. The speed of searching for satellites also raised no questions.

One of the main features of ALCATEL ONETOUCH Idol 3 is the presence of two stereo speakers with a power of 1.2 W each. They are made with JBL Clari-Fi technology. This makes it easy to turn your phone into a small multimedia center. The volume of the speakers is really high, and the fact that they are as far apart as possible along the edges of the rather big phone adds even more stereo effect. The proprietary ONETOUCH MIX application is used to play music. In portrait orientation, this is a normal music player. In the horizontal, everything changes. A mixing console appears before our eyes. These are not just visualizations. It allows you to change the tempo of music playback, insert effects and quickly combine songs.

If we talk about conversational dynamics, here it is made at a good average level. The microphone is also not bad. There were no complaints from interlocutors about the quality of speech transmission.

Operating system and shell

The operating system is Android 5.0.2 Lollipop. The manufacturer did not change the stock interface much. At first glance, cartoon labels of stock applications are thrown. Unfortunately, it is impossible to replace them with standard ones.

The smartphone unlocking interface has changed. Now, in addition to launching the call log and the camera, you can launch the calendar, music player, front camera, create a contact and scan the QR code.

On the far left desktop is the ONETOUCH Stream feed. This is a kind of analogue of what can be found on HTC smartphones. The big drawback is that it is impossible to add or customize the display of certain resources. Only the choice of the country and topics of interest to you is available.

An interesting feature will be the ability to fully work with the device upside down. This mode works not only in the menu, but also during a phone call. This is possible due to the use of stereo speakers and microphones at the ends of the case. In this case, the speaker used is the one that is at the top when receiving a call. During a conversation, a 180 degree flip does not work.

The "Gestures" item has appeared in the smartphone settings, in which you can turn off the call and snooze the alarm clock by flipping the screen, as well as wake up the device by double tap.

Camera

The smartphone is equipped with a 13 megapixel main camera and an 8 megapixel front camera. The rear camera is based on the Sony IMX 214 sensor. Both modules can record video in Full HD. The settings are very simple. In addition to the automatic mode, there is HDR, panorama, manual mode, single frame, scanner and auto retouch.

In short, the quality of the photographs is average. Despite using the very popular and good Sony IMX 214 sensor, the camera let us down. Yes, in good lighting conditions, the photos are not bad, but sometimes there are problems with focusing. In the evening, the device focuses reluctantly.

Sample photos taken with the main camera:

Sample photos taken with the front camera:

Video recording example

Autonomy

The built-in battery capacity is 2910 mAh. Thanks to this, as well as not the most voracious processor, you can count on 2 days of battery life in normal mode. In this case, the active screen time will be 3.5 hours, 1 hour of talking on the phone. During the night, when Wi-Fi is on, the battery loses from one to three percent of its charge. So in terms of autonomy, the smartphone is doing well.

Outcome

ALCATEL ONETOUCH Idol 3 5.5 is a beautiful phablet with high-quality stereo speakers, a decent screen and sufficient battery life. A smartphone will not work for those who like to play demanding games, but it should appeal to those who watch videos, listen to music not only through headphones, but also through speakers. In Ukraine, Idol 3 5.5 will start selling in December at a recommended price of 5555 hryvnia.

Liked:

Stereo speakers

Appearance

Battery life

Complete headset

Did not like:

- Main camera

- High minimum brightness

	ALCATEL 6045D Idol 3 5.5 (Gray) Notify when on sale
A type	Smartphone
SIM card type	Micro-SIM
Standard	GSM 850/900/1800/1900, UMTS 850/1700/1900/2100, LTE
High speed data transfer	GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, HSUPA, LTE
Number of SIM-cards	1/2
operating system	Android 5.0 (Lollipop)
RAM, GB	2
Built-in memory, GB	16/32
Expansion slot	+/-
Dimensions, mm	152.7 × 75.14 × 7.4
Weight, g	140,7
Dust and moisture protection	—
Accumulator battery	Li-pol, 2910 mAh (non-removable)
Opening hours (manufacturer's data)	conversation - up to 13 hours, waiting - up to 600 hours
Diagonal, inches	5,5
Resolution	1920 × 1080
Matrix type	IPS
PPI	401
Brightness adjustment sensor	+
Touch screen (type)	touch (capacitive)
Other	OGS, oleophobic coating
CPU	Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 MSM8939 + GPU Adreno 405
Kernel type	Cortex-A53
Number of Cores	4+4
Frequency, GHz	1+1,5
Main camera, MP	13
Autofocus	+
Filming	1920х1080 (30 fps)
Flash	lED
Front camera, MP	8
Other	—
Wi-Fi	802.11 a / b / g / n, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth	4.1 (A2DP, LE)
GPS	+
IrDA	—
NFC	+
Interface connector	USB 2.0 (micro-USB)
Audio jack	3.5mm
MP3 player	+
FM radio	+
Type of shell	monoblock (non-separable)
Body material	plastic
Keyboard type	screen input
More	accelerometer (G-sensor), proximity sensor, digital compass, A-GPS, Hi-Fi sound

Type